Old Wives Lore For Gardeners

PLANTING

Sartorial

It is curious how often in old herbals we are advised to sow not only when the moon is full but naked, ourselves, at the time. 'The best husband men' writes one, 'would have the seedsman of turnips or rapes to be naked when he sows them, and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himself and his neighbours. ' Presumably, it was hoped that the gods might look more kindly on the naked, innocent amateur than on the prosperous market gardener. Perhaps, though, the advice was not always given for purely magical reasons; we should not sow when the ground is too cold for the good of the seed and are less likely to do so if we are told we must be naked when we do it. We have heard that in Lincolnshire, to test whether the soil was in the right condition for sowing barley, farmers used to rake off their trousers and sit on the ground: if it was comfortable for them it would be comfortable for the barley. With the greater density of population the modern gardener will probably be content to test the soil with a bared elbow, as a mother does the water for a baby's bath.